Tuesday, 26 July 2016

The Special Anti Robbery and Anti-kidnapping Squad of
the Kogi State Police Command yesterday mounted an intensive search for
the occupants of two vehicles abandoned by the roadside along the Lokoja-Abuja
Highway.

The vehicles, a Mercedes Benz E230 bearing registration number ABC758LT and
Peugeot 307 with number plate, GWA614BR, were reportedly found close to Karara
village in the state by police operatives acting on a tip-off at about 3:
pm on Sunday.

It was learnt that when a search was conducted on the vehicles, the operatives
recovered in one of them, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) identity card bearing
the name, Umar Garuba and 25 expended shells of AK47 ammunition.

It was further gathered that the discovery fuelled suspicion that the occupants
of the vehicles might have been abducted. This prompted a thorough search
of the surrounding bushes by a combined team of police operatives which yielded
no result as at the time of filing this report.

The development came as a timber dealer was allegedly kidnapped on Saturday,
while returning home at about 8:35pm in Abejukolo, Kogi State. The victim’s
wife, Fefia, reportedly told the police that her husband, Aliyu Abdul, 44, was
abducted at the gate of his residence.

Abdul as at press time was yet to be found, neither had his abductors
established contact with members of his family, according to sources close to
the police.

Spokesman of the Kogi State police command, Willy Aya, did not respond to calls
put through his mobile phone yesterday, but a reliable source at the command
headquarters in Lokoja confirmed the reports.

Contacted on his mobile phone over the staff identity card recovered by the
police in one of the vehicles, Acting Director, Corporate Affairs of the CBN,
Isaac Okoroafor, said in a reply that he was in a meeting.